


Gotham: The Telltale Series

by Steveuschrist



Category: Batman: The Telltale Series (Video Game), Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Crossover, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, Jeremiah isn't an asshole, John isn't an asshole, Light Angst, M/M, Nice Jeremiah, No One Killed Anyone, No one is evil, Relationship(s), Smart bois, i guess this is a crossover, idk where this is going atm but you know, trying to make it as none spoilery as possible but there will be spoilers for both fandoms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-10-10 13:11:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17426528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steveuschrist/pseuds/Steveuschrist
Summary: John wakes up next to a man who claims to be Bruce, only he isn't HIS Bruce. Penguin and Riddler run the underworld? And who the hell is Scarecrow?Jeremiah wakes up next to a man who claims to be Bruce, only this isn't some obscure plot to get him killed. These people don't know the Valeska name? And why does Gordon have a mustache?





	1. Chapter 1

John hummed, snuggling down into the bed. He rolled over onto his side, wrapping his arm around the man sleeping next to him. He nuzzled his face into the back of Bruce’s neck, grinning to himself.

…

Wait a second.

John gently patted his hand against the stomach it was next to. Something about the shape of Bruce… something just didn’t feel right.

He opened his eyes, and instead of being greeted by the short, straight, jet black hair that he was used to, he was met with curly hair, and he was almost certain that it was longer than Bruce’s hair.

Oh, crap.

John stayed as still as he could, not wanting to wake up the other person.

Had he been kidnapped? Had someone broken into the manor? Had he gone for a night on the city and found a hooker and brought them home?

None of those seemed likely, not at all. He and Bruce had been on patrol, and when they came home they went to bed. They always did that.

John wouldn’t have slept with someone else. No way in hell would he ever do that. Nu-uh, no sir.

He slowly sat up, and the person next to him rolled over, opening their eyes.

The other person was a man, and just from looking at him John figured he couldn’t be older than 21. His hair was dark brown and decently curly, with a few strands hanging over his forehead from bedhead. He was fairly pale, at least, pale for normal humans. He was thin, wearing a long sleeve black shirt, and John’s own green eyes met his.

“Who are you?” John asked. If he attacked him, it could possibly increase the chances of this guy figuring out that he was Joker, and that would be a whole mess.

“Who are _you_?” The other man replied, sitting up slowly.

John quickly glanced at his surroundings, making sure to keep bringing his eyes back to the dark-haired man. “Where are we?”

“This is my house- how did you get in here? Did you break in?” The other man’s brows furrowed. “Where’s Jeremiah?”

John blinked. “Your house? Gosh, how the Hell’d I end up here.. And no, I didn’t break in! ..At least, I don’t think so. And who the heck is Jeremiah? Where are we?”

“I told you- my house- right outside of Gotham City.” The other replied.

“We’re in Gotham?” John let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, good, so I’m not too far away from Bruce.”

The other man had decided to get up, clearly displeased with the situation. He paused his movements when John spoke. “Wait.. Bruce?”

“Uh, yeah! Look, no offense, but even if you don’t know who I am, you gotta know Bruce. And I’m always on the news with Bruce!” John climbed out of bed, and now fully realized he had no idea where he was. “And in all the tabloids! ‘Billionaire Playboy Settles Down with Ex-Arkham Patient!!’ ‘How Does He Keep His Hair So Green!’ That kinda stuff! You may not read the tabloids but I’m sure you see the news- you gotta know who Bruce Wayne is!”

The other man glanced from John, to the floor, then back to John. “Are you… on something?”

“On.. no!! I’m not high or drunk or anything!”

The stranger took a deep breath. “This doesn’t make any sense.. How can-”

“Look, I don’t know what went down between us, but I’d just like to leave and go find my Bruce, alright? I’ll be outta your hair!” John replied, crossing his arms.

“That’s… that’s gonna be a little difficult.”

“A little difficult? Oh, come on! You said this was Gotham! He’s not too far!”

“The problem is.. I’m Bruce Wayne.”

John’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline, and after a moment of staring at the other man with wide eyes, he burst into laughter.

“You’re- you’re Bruce Wayne? Oh, you’re a real jokester!” John managed to get out, practically doubled over. “Now that was a good joke!”

“I’m serious.”

John glanced up at the man, and it slowly hit him that no joking around was occuring.

“How.. but you’re not Bruce!” John insisted, suddenly feeling his nerves rising. “You’re not him- Bruce is taller than me! And can bench press me with one hand! And has black hair! And has blue eyes!”

‘Bruce’ furrowed his brows, and when he did that John raised his, seeing some resemblance. “Wait, you’re not… not his secret kid or something, right?”

“What? No, my parents were Thomas and Martha Wayne.” He replied.

John rubbed the back of his neck. This guy sounded a lot like Bruce. But if this was also Bruce, then were was John’s Bruce? “This makes no sense. How’d I get here? And if this is Gotham then how is there two Bruces?”

Bruce sighed, slipping his phone off of the bedside table. “I’ll just call him. Clearly you’re as confused as I am.”

John blinked, and after a moment he realized that maybe that was the case. Bruce clearly had no idea how he’d gotten there, and from what John could piece together he was Bruce Wayne. But there couldn’t be two Bruce Waynes with dead parents named Thomas and Martha.

The dark-haired man let out a soft sigh. “J, hey, it’s Bruce. Did you.. Go in early or something? There’s.. Something’s wrong at home. Text me when you get this.”

He hung up, sighing softly. “Let me get this straight: you woke up here, have no idea how you got here, are looking for Bruce Wayne, who is me, but who isn’t me, and on the same morning that you show up, my partner disappears.”

“Is it common for your partner to get up before you and leave the house?”

“No.”

“Then.. yeah.” John rubbed the back of his neck again. “Jeez, this is confusing. There’s two Bruces in Gotham City? That makes no sense.”

Bruce glanced from his phone to John. “Unless you crossed universes.”

John blinked. “I.. I’m sorry, what?”

“Multiverse- there’s multiple realities on timelines that we exist in that stem from different points in our lives, different decisions we make, different people being born. There’s a chance that you somehow came from your universe- where you and your Bruce live- into mine, where I’m this universe’s version of Bruce.”

“Oh.. that sounds really confusing.. But it makes the most sense out of anything, I guess.” John replied, quirking an eyebrow.

“So… oh, damn.” Bruce shook his head. “That means the gate was opened both ways, which means that…”

“You think that this Jeremiah guy is in my universe?” John shook his head. “Oh, gosh, is Jeremiah like me?”

Bruce blinked. “Er.. no..?”

“Sorry, I mean, is he Joker to your Batman?”

The other man suddenly stiffened. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well, considering this is another universe and I assume you’re Batman, I was just wondering if he’s Joker like I’m Joker to my Batman in my universe.”

“Your Bruce is Batman in your universe? That’s how you know I’m Batman?” Bruce blinked. “And you.. you help him?”

“Help him? Buddy, Bats and Joker are partners in and off the battlefield!” John grinned. “Gotham needed two heroes, and I can fight, so I stepped up to the plate! And.. I’ll take that as a ‘no’.”

Bruce looked away after a moment. “Jeremiah… he’s not a fighter- not in that sense. Combat.. it’s not for him. He really dislikes that I’m Batman.”

John frowned. “How come? If your Gotham is like mine it needs all the heroes it can get!”

“I’m.. people aren’t too fond of Batman here.” Bruce replied.

“Is Jeremiah like that?”

Bruce shook his head. “No, no. He wants me to help- to fight, but he knows that people don’t like Batman. All of GCPD hates him besides Jim.. Jeremiah just.. He doesn’t want me to get hurt. Or killed. After everything that’s happened… he knows that if people find out that I’m Batman I’ll be locked up for a long time. Even if what I’m doing is right-”

“-vigilantism is illegal.” John finished. “But what do you mean by ‘after everything that’s happened’?”

“..Nevermind.”

***

Jeremiah stared at the man a few feet away from him. This didn’t make sense- none of this made sense.

Jeremiah rubbed his eyes. Had everything been a dream? Was Jerome still alive? Had Jerome succeeded in turning Gotham crazy, and Jeremiah had been caught in the blast?

“This is a trick.”

The other man shook his head. “It’s not.”

“Then what the hell is going on here?” If the other man was a Jerome follower he would’ve already taken Jeremiah to him. Or killed him.

“You woke up in my bed, you tell me.”

“What..?” Jeremiah glanced around. The room felt familiar, but it wasn’t the room he shared with Bruce. He looked back at the man across the room. “Who are you?”

“Bruce Wayne. You must not be from Gotham..” He shook his head to himself. “And your name is..?”

Jeremiah blinked. “Did.. did you just say that your name is Bruce Wayne?”

“I did-”

“Oh now I know you’re lying.” Jeremiah took a step back. “Don’t bother keeping up this act. I know your game. You’re trying to bait me into a trap.”

“I’m not baiting you into-”

Jeremiah glanced around, then began to shuffle through the drawers of a nightstand next to him. “Weapons? Cameras? More insanity gas?”

Jeremiah felt something behind him. There were no weapons in the drawers. Shit.

“You do realize I can have you arrested for going through my property?”

“Oh, meaningless threats, Mr. ‘Bruce Wayne’.” He turned back around, and the man was only a couple steps away from him now.

There was a pause before the man claiming to be Bruce spoke. “You genuinely don’t think I’m Bruce. And with your tone of voice.. that tells me that you think you know who Bruce is.”

Jeremiah narrowed his eyes. “I do! He’s about this tall, has dark brown hair, gets probably 20 hours of sleep a week- if you wanted to show me an imposter you could’ve at least picked someone who looks like him!”

The ravenette crossed his arms. “Where’s John?”

“John?”

“Yes, John.”

Jeremiah looked over the other man’s face, recognizing the look the other man had. It was worry. Genuine worry.

Jeremiah had grown used to reading people over his years. Clearly the other man cared deeply about this John.

This wasn’t a trap.

Jeremiah sighed softly. “This doesn’t make any sense. There’s no way that you’re Bruce Wayne. Did you hit your head or something?”

“Did you?” The other man asked, and he then shook his head. “Nevermind, we’re getting nowhere, and clearly you don’t know where he is. I’ll call you a car, send you back to the city.”

Jeremiah looked him up and down. Something about this man was.. quite familiar. “But you’re claiming to be Bruce.. and I know you’re not.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe you were brainwashed by one of those criminals running around the city..” The other man mumbled dismissively.

Jeremiah’s eyes narrowed. “You mean like Penguin or Riddler? They wouldn’t team up with Scarecrow.”

‘Bruce’ blinked at him. “Penguin’s in jail, Riddler’s dead, who the hell is Scarecrow?”

It was Jeremiah’s turn to blink in confusion. “What? No, they’re on the streets causing death and destruction.” This guy didn’t even know about Scarecrow? Who was this guy?

“Batman put Penguin in jail. Riddler was killed by a virus.”

“You know Batman but not Scarecrow?”

“Batman’s been in Gotham for a handful of years now. And Joker’s joined him in the fight recently.”

“You’re not making sense! None of that is true-”

A few soft knocks were heard from the door on the other side of the room, and both men turned as the door opened.

“Master Bruce I heard-” An older man stood at the door. He had a British accent, and he was dressed somewhat nicely. “Oh, Master Bruce who is this..?”

“Jeremiah Valeska.” Jeremiah replied without thinking. He knew this man from somewhere. He knew him.

“Alfred, have you seen John? Do you know if he slipped out earlier?” Bruce asked.

Wait, Alfred?!

“I haven’t, maybe he got out without me noticing. You know how quiet he can be when he wants.”

“Alfred Pennyworth..” Jeremiah said softly, and the other two men turned to him.

“Yes, Mr. Valeska?”

Jeremiah rubbed his temple. This.. this doesn’t make any sense. Two Batmans? Two Alfreds? Two Bruces?

“This.. this is Gotham City.” Jeremiah said, then he glanced at the two men. “The name Valeska has no meaning to you two? Not even Jerome Valeska?”

“I’m afraid not.” Alfred replied.

Jeremiah was going to tell his theory when ‘Bruce’ spoke.

“You’re from here. But you’re not from.. here.” He said.

“I’m afraid that it appears so, yes.”

***

John nearly knocked over an old vase as he stared at the paintings on the wall of the hall. He caught himself (and the vase) just in time, and Bruce glanced back at him.

“You have fast reflexes.”

John shrugged sheepishly, patting the vase for good measure as he placed it back on its display. “I have to. If I didn’t I’d have been killed a long time ago.”

“So, you and your Bruce aren’t just crime fighting partners. How’d you two meet?”

“Long story short: I was in Arkham for most of my life. Bruce got sent there and boom! Love at first sight!”

Bruce started at John with wide eyes. “Wait, Arkham Asylum?”

“Yup! Still no idea how I ended up there, but Bruce was drugged and almost killed this guy called Penguin with his bare hands! They sent him to Arkham cuz they didn’t know he was as drugged.”

“He almost killed Cobblepot?”

“Uh huh. Anyway, Bruce got out and a year later, after I was out for a few months, we reconnected!” John’s grin faded. “Erm.. at a funeral. I’m bad at timing.”

They entered through a door and John realized this was the kitchen before he even entered. The manor was different from the one he was used to, but strangely familiar.

“And I was part of a small criminal organization and Bruce got involved with.. another long story short: Batman and Joker saved Gotham from certain doom.”

“That’s quite the story.” Bruce pulled a mug from a cabinet. “Coffee?”

“Oh, please. I think I’ll need it.”

John was handed a black mug, and Bruce had a black one of his own. Bruce placed sugar and cream in front of John, and he began to pour some sugar into his coffee.

John heard the door to the kitchen open, and he looked up.

“Good morning, Master B. Who’s this young gentleman you’ve got with you?”

John turned around, his eyes falling on a man with graying hair.

“Alfred, this is John. He’s..” Bruce paused. “We have a situation.”

“How so-?”

John placed his mug on the counter and practically shot over to Alfred. “A-Alfred? Alfred Pennyworth?”

“That’s me, mate. Do I know you?”

He took Alfred’s hand into his own, shaking it firmly. “Kind of. I mean there’s a version of you where I’m from and we’re really close.”

The other man blinked. “Another version? I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“That’s where our problem comes from.” Bruce said. “He’s from.. I think he’s from another universe.”

“Another universe?” Alfred asked. “Another bloody universe? What, we had Jerome, now Riddler and Penguin are running the underworld, and now we’ve got to deal with another universe?”

“Oh, I’m not a bad guy, I swear!” John said quickly. “Bruce- well, my Bruce- could tell you that! ..If he were here.”

“What does Jeremiah think?” Alfred looked over at Bruce. “And why did he come over from the universe?”

“He’s not here, Alfred.” Bruce replied. “And I don’t know. I hate to say it but I think that John and Jeremiah both crossed over to each other’s universes.”

“Eye for an eye! ..Maybe the universes want to stay balanced so they switched each other’s version of Bruce’s partner.” John went back to his mug and sipped his coffee.

“So in your universe you’re with your version of Bruce..” Alfred shook his head. “Mate, this is a whole new level of problems.”

“I have to talk to Lucius.” Bruce said, more to himself than the other two men.

“Oh, and Gordon and Bullock?” Alfred asked, with a bit of an edge to his voice.

“They don’t need to know.”

“Damn right they don’t.” Alfred replied. “If they put two and two together and figure out that John is with the you in his universe and Jeremiah conveniently is missing.. doesn’t take much brain power for them to figure out that you’re Batman. We can’t risk any chances. I know Gordon’s already suspicious.”

“Lucius..” John stared into his coffee mug.

“How’s Lucius in your universe?” Bruce sipped his coffee.

“He’s..” John glanced up to see Alfred next to Bruce. It was odd, seeing an entirely different version of the two men. His voice came out soft. “He was… he was killed. His funeral is where Bruce and I reconnected.”

Bruce’s looked over at him. “Killed?”

“By Riddler. Bats was the real target and… it was a whole mess.” John sipped his coffee. “But they’re both gone now.”

An awkward silence hung in the air. John brought up his shoulders, trying to escape the building tension. Suddenly, few harsh raps were heard at one of the doors to the kitchen, and John instantly straightened up.

John heard the door open and he felt something that didn’t sit right with him. Something in the room had changed. He turned on his stool to face the door just as Bruce spoke, and he suddenly knew exactly why he was feeling off.

“Selina.”

_Cat. Lady._


	2. Chapter 2

Jeremiah glanced out the window of the parlor. “This.. alternative dimensions and timelines.. Different universes.. Theories.. It’s all real. It has to be. Or at least in some form, parallel universes do exist..” He looked over at the new version of Bruce- the alternate universe one. He was glancing from Jeremiah to his phone. 

“I don’t quite fully get it, either, but yeah. It’s safe to say that one of those is true.” Bruce tapped his phone with his thumbs, clearly typing. 

“I doubt texts go through dimensions.” Jeremiah muttered. After a moment he internally chastised himself. He was still so defensive and cautious. He shook his head to himself. No, this man wasn’t his Bruce, but he was a Bruce. He deserved more respect than what Jeremiah was giving him. 

“If they did, it would be quite interesting.” Bruce replied. “But, I’m texting people here. Family.” 

Jeremiah looked from Bruce, to the window, then back to Bruce. “You have family?”

“Well, not blood family.. I have a family that I’ve made.” Bruce answered. “And one of our members has gone off to another dimension. It’s safe to say that I won’t be able to come even close to handling this alone.” 

“You’re really worried about him.” Jeremiah said suddenly. “John, I mean.”

Bruce raised an eyebrow. “You’re not worried about getting back to your world?” 

“I’m..” Jeremiah hesitated, fully realizing that for the past hour or so he hadn’t even really thought of how he would get back home. He caught himself off guard, usually he felt like he was always two steps ahead of the world. “I am. I just mean to say that.. You’re really worried. My Bruce gets the exact same look in his eye when he’s really stressed. He hides it, doesn’t want to talk about it, but it’s there. John will be safe with Bruce. They can figure something out.” 

“It’s not like that.” Bruce replied quickly. “John.. he’s different.”

“How different?”

“He’s just.. Not like us.” Bruce said, his shoulders dropping. “He hates when we’re apart for longer than four hours. I don’t know how he’ll handle being across dimensions and being seperated for days, possibly a couple weeks.” 

Jeremiah brushed a hand through his hair. “Bruce can handle himself. In my universe he’s our Batman.” 

Bruce seemed to consider something for a moment, before placing his phone down. “In this universe I’m Batman and John is Joker.” 

Jeremiah stared at him. Ok, Bruce Wayne also being Batman in this universe technically made sense. But having a partner? “Is that how you two met?” 

“No. There was… criminal organization, corrupt government agency.” He waved his hand slightly like it was unimportant, like he was tired of going over the same thing. “And you and Bruce in your universe?”

“Oh. My brother caused havoc on the city on more than one occasion. He went after me and the GCPD followed.. actually Bruce followed Jerome first. Then the GCPD followed him. And they found my bunker.”

“Bunker?”

“Yeah.. I lived in an underground bunker pretty much as soon as I got out of school.” Jeremiah paused, a memory from almost two years ago hitting him. 

“An underground bunker. An underground bunker maze.” 

“Says the guy who lives in a mansion!”

“Jeremiah, you know why I live in a mansion. A mansion doesn’t equal an underground maze on 100 acres of land in the middle of the woods.” 

“..Ok, when you say it aloud like that it does sound really weird.” 

Oh, no. He’d only been there an hour and he was already getting homesick. 

“You were hiding.” Bruce said.

“From my brother. From everything, actually.”

“You still live there now?”

Jeremiah managed a soft chuckle. “No, no. I moved in with Bruce and gave it to the police once Ecco and I moved out. Probably a homeless shelter or something. It’s definitely big enough for that.”

“Ecco’s a friend?” 

“Oh my god, you really are Bruce.” Jeremiah couldn’t help but grin. “All you guys do is ask questions.” 

Bruce shrugged, the tiniest of smiles crossing his face. “I guess all of us are just naturally curious. And besides, I want to know who I’m working with.”

“Fine. We met right when I got out of school. She’s been a very great friend and assistant to me. Now, how are your people supposed to help us? Was one of your friends dabbling in interdimensional science?”

“I wish. That would make this process a lot easier.” Bruce replied. “Sadly as far as I know, we haven’t discovered anything like that in this universe.”

“So at the moment… our theory is that it just happened? Out of nowhere?”

“We have no proof that someone was the cause of it. There’s no motive as far as we know. And like I said, that tech shouldn’t even exist yet.” 

“Well maybe someone didn’t do it, but there has to be a cause for it.” Jeremiah muttered. He looked over Bruce, examining him. At first, Jeremiah couldn’t find any real resemblance to his Bruce, but now he could see it. Their eyebrows furrowed together in the same way, they held themselves the same way. This Bruce had jet black hair, and it was entirely straight. He was probably around ten years older than Jeremiah’s Bruce, and he was physically bigger, but Jeremiah could tell that their minds worked the same way. 

“You asked about a name.” Bruce said suddenly, and Jeremiah was brought out of his thoughts. “Jerome Valeska, he’s the brother you mentioned earlier?” 

Jeremiah sat back. “Yes, Jerome was my twin brother. He was insane. He almost sent the city into chaos- he did send it into chaos.” 

“Was it just the GCPD or did Bruce fight him?”

“Bruce did fight him, but probably not in the sense you’re thinking. Jerome tried to kill him multiple times. Kidnapped him..” Jeremiah clenched one of his fists. “Jerome hurt him.”

Bruce’s gaze fell. “I hate to say it, but that’s the business.”

Jeremiah shook his head and he could feel his pulse quickening. “No, it’s not like that. You’ve been at this whole vigilante thing for a while now, but my Bruce hasn’t. When Jerome was alive Bruce was still a teenager- he was just a kid and Jerome just- he just- he just hurt him!” Jeremiah brought his hands up to his face, rubbing his temples. 

Bruce set down his phone. “Hey, it’s ok-” 

“But it’s not!” Jeremiah straightened up, looking across the table and suddenly feeling entirely overwhelmed. “He’s- he’s in our dimension alone! And what if someone dangerous from over here went over with John, huh? Something that Bruce can’t face?”

“Just a minute ago you were talking as if Bruce would be protecting John, and now you don’t think Bruce can even take care of himself?” The other man asked, tilting his head ever so slightly. “John can protect him. He’s probably worried and nervous as hell but he will try to protect Bruce.” 

Jeremiah took a breath to steady himself. He was overreacting. If what this Bruce said was true, then John and Bruce would be fine. Bruce could fight even without all the gear. “I’m.. I just got worked up thinking about Jerome. He came back to life once.. And with all the things happening I guess I’m just worried that he’s somehow back and I won’t be there to help Bruce.” 

“He came back to life..” Bruce tapped the empty coffee cup he’d finished within a minute of Alfred giving it to him. “Yeah, your universe is way weirder than mine. No one comes back to life here. And I understand that. I’m better than John with anxiety, but I still worry about him a lot, and I am still worried about him right now.” 

“Why does John usually get anxious when you’re not around?”

“I’m.. really all he has.” Bruce replied, glancing at the floor. “He has amnesia. All he remembers is being in Arkham Asylum. Almost everything that he has I’ve given to him.” 

“Arkham? He did something to get in there, surely.” Jeremiah said. 

“Maybe, but John’s pretty much always been there for me. He figured out my identity and didn’t tell anyone, and he’s saved my life.” Bruce shrugged. “Normally I’d dig into his past, but he was in Arkham for almost 10 years and he didn’t remember anything. And I can’t hold him to something he doesn’t have a memory of doing.” 

“And you fell in love with him.” 

“That, too. ..If your Bruce fights anything like me, then he and John will be fine. John’s a strong fighter, I just hope that fighting won’t be necessary. You have someone that will help them?”

Jeremiah nodded. “Yes, Bruce might turn to Ecco, and he will definitely turn to Lucius. ..Maybe not Jim, though.” 

Bruce’s gaze fell for a moment, but Jeremiah decided not to push it. “What about your family? How will they help?”

“I’m not entirely sure yet, but we’ll figure something out.” 

***

“Bruce. Alfred.” The young woman gave a slight wave to Bruce and a nod to Alfred. “Am I interrupting? I can come back later.” 

Bruce was the first to speak. “Oh, Selina-” 

John shot up out of his stool, and suddenly he felt like his blood was boiling. Cat lady. Cat lady was standing right in front of him! 

Selina had used Bruce in his universe, and John felt like this version of her used her version of Bruce at least once or twice. 

“Do I.. know you?” She asked, with a slight edge to her voice. 

John gave her a small smile, and bowed slightly, sweeping a hand to the floor. “Doe. John. Doe.” 

She let out a soft giggle. “Uh.. sorry? Doesn’t ring any bells.” 

“I’m just passing through.” John answered. “I’m a friend of Jeremiah’s.” 

“Oh? I.. didn’t really know he had those.” Selina replied. 

Bruce let out a huff. “Selina..” 

“Kidding, kidding!” She raised her hands in surrender. “You guys alright? Everyone seems a little tense today. And where is Jeremiah?”

“Just a new project, is all, Ms. Kyle.” Alfred replied quickly. “Jeremiah’s gotten an early start, finalizing things at Wayne Enterprises.” 

“Oh, right. You two are always up to something.” She replied, giving Bruce a small smile. “Well, I’ll come back later, when you don’t have a guest.” 

She turned, and John narrowed his eyes at her. Sure, she wasn’t like Selina in his universe, but he still didn’t like her. At least Bruce and her seemed to be on friendly terms.

***

Bruce had seen a number of things in his life, but John was something else. 

John was tall and lanky, his skin was practically white, his hair was a deep green, and his eyes matched his hair. He was wearing Vans, but one shoe was purple and the other was green. One of his socks was blue, the other was orange. He wore purple dress pants and a blue long sleeve dress shirt with tiny white diamonds on it. A purple vest went over it. It was mismatched yet it strangely all went together. 

Bruce had led John to the garage after they decided to head into the city. 

John looked around, spreading his arms. “Wow, look at all these cars! Your collection might rival Bruce’s- oh, oh, a Ferrari!!” He pulled his phone from his pocket and snapped about 10 pictures before Bruce could react. 

“Did.. you just take a picture of one of my cars?” Bruce asked, brows furrowing. 

John blinked, looked from the phone, to the cars, back to Bruce. He suddenly facepalmed. “Butts, I should’ve asked! I’m sorry, I’ll delete-!” 

Bruce gave him a small smile. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t mad, just curious.” John’s phone case was bright purple with a green stripe running down it. 

“Oh, oh good. My Bruce just, you know, likes cars! And I don’t think he has a Ferrari.” John replied, walking up to the car that Bruce was next to. 

Bruce glanced at John as they got into the car. He buckled up and seemed to be examining the console intensely. “What are you looking for?”

“This one’s not the Batmobile.” John concluded after a few seconds of silence. He sat back and Bruce started the car. 

“It’s.. yeah, it’s not.” Bruce answered. He pulled out of the space and out of the garage, heading down the road towards the city. 

“What’s Jeremiah like? Aside from not liking you being Batman.” 

Bruce glanced over at John. “He’s quiet. Really smart. Why do you ask?”

“Well I wanna know what your life is like!” John replied. “It’s so different from my Bruce’s.” 

“Really? How do you mean?”

“First off, you’re younger than him by about a decade. Which means he has more Batman experience than you.” He straightened up a little, looking outside the window. “And Jeremiah sounds pretty smart, so you guys probably talk about smart people stuff all day. ..Stuff that I wish that I could talk about Bruce with..” He trailed off, clearing his throat awkwardly. 

“You’re smart in your own way. Jeremiah and I don’t just talk about science- that’s not what our relationship is built upon. Talking about engineering all day gets boring.” Bruce replied. “Your Bruce would probably hate talking about that stuff all day. And if he wants you to change then he’s a really crappy person.” 

John raised his eyebrows. “Are you always this good at this stuff? Are you like.. Psychic?? My Bruce doesn’t have any superpowers! Well, he has one, but it doesn’t help him be Batman.” 

“My superpower is staying up for three days straight.” Bruce let out a soft chuckle at his dumb comment. He’d known John for only a couple hours, but he felt so at ease with him. Maybe that was John’s superpower? “You.. don’t have any abilities, or anything?”

“Nothing that helps me fight.” John replied. “Just, you know, combat training.” He gasped softly as the city fully came into view. “Wow, it’s really close to how my Gotham looks! Do you guys have that good ice cream place on 5th?”

“Are you asking to get ice cream?” 

“Hah! So you do have it!” John grinned. “Alright, so where’s Lucius?”

“Uhm, at the GCPD station.” Bruce replied, practically getting whiplash from the subject change. “He’s the only one that I know who can help us.” 

“GCPD? Wait, he works with the police?” John asked. 

“He.. sort of ducked out of Wayne Enterprises a few years back.” Bruce replied. “I can’t really blame him.” 

John gasped softly. “Wait, your dad was involved with the criminal underworld, too?”

Bruce practically slammed on the breaks. He looked over at John. “What?” 

“Oh.. I’ll take that as a no..” John swallowed nervously. “Where I’m from, Bruce’s dad was involved with the underworld. He was business partners with Carmine Falcone, I think. They were doing tests on people then sending them to Arkham.. Uh.. really nasty stuff.” 

“That’s.. I can’t even imagine that.” Bruce said after a moment. “My father would’ve never done that.. He didn’t do that.” 

“Good. It really..” John shook his head. “You’d think it would’ve given Bruce.. Closure, maybe. Something, anything, but.. He doesn’t like to talk about it.” 

“So his parents were killed because of their involvement in crime?” Bruce asked. 

“His father was the original target, but his mother became a target in case she knew anything.” John was looking out the window, watching the city come closer and closer into view. “We don’t really ever talk about it.” 

The rest of the ride was silent aside from John’s leg bouncing up and down softly on the carpet of Bruce’s car. Bruce quickly reached the GCPD, and John was staring out the window, watching the city go by. 

Bruce pulled into a spot across from the station, and John promptly hopped out. “Dang, this place doesn’t even look close to how mine does!” 

“Really?” Bruce locked the car and led John across the street towards the station. 

“It’s in a different part of the city, and the architecture is a lot newer.” John replied as they walked up the steps. He managed to reach the door before Bruce and pulled it open, gesturing for him to go in first. 

Bruce raised his eyebrows, but didn’t object, and slipped inside ahead of John. “He’ll be in the back, we just have to make our way through the station.” 

John nodded. “Oh, yeah.. All different..” They turned a corner and came to the main part of the station. A few people glanced up at Bruce- he’d been there so many times that no one bothered them. However, Bruce noticed that John received quite a few glances. 

“Just over in that hall.” Bruce said, and he and John made their way across the station. They’d almost entered the doorway when- 

“Bruce, hey, kid, what are ya doin’ here?” 

Both men turned, and Bruce recognized the voice before he even saw where its owner was standing. “Detective Bullock, I’m just here to see Lucius.” 

“Oh, he’s in there, go ahead.” Harvey replied, the slightest of grins on his face. His eyes fell upon John, and his expression faltered. “Wayne Enterprises business? Don’t tell me you’re asking Fox to come back! He’s the best of the best.” 

“Don’t worry, Detective. I’ll let you guys keep him for a while.” Bruce replied. 

“Sounds like a plan- oh, did you see the news?” Harvey held out a newspaper. Bruce stepped over to him and read the front page.

“They’re… calling him ‘The Batman’?”

“Kinda goofy, but that’s what they’re sayin’.” Harvey said, shrugging. “Eye witnesses say he’s got a cowl on with ears, plus, what we’re pretty sure are shurikens shaped like bats have been found at scenes where he’s been.” 

“How do you feel about him?” Bruce asked. “I mean.. Isn’t he operating outside the law?”

Harvey sighed, leaning a little closer to Bruce and lowering his voice. “Look, I’ve been trying to follow Jim, the line’s the line, the law’s the law. But this guy hasn’t killed anyone. He’s saved people from getting murdered, robbed, raped. I can’t morally go after him knowing that he’s trying to help.” 

Bruce nodded once. “It was nice talking to you, Detective.” He turned away and brushed past John, who followed him closely. 

They went down a skinny hallway to a door with black lettering. Bruce knocked twice, then slowly pushed it open. “Lucius?”

“Oh, Bruce.”

Bruce stepped inside and John shut the door behind him when they were both in. The room was small, but a man was sitting on the desk, looking up from a file. 

“Lucius, hey.” Bruce said, giving him a grin. 

“Bruce, you’re looking well.” Lucius replied, glancing over at John. “I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met.” 

“I’m.. John.” John said softly, clearing his throat. He held out his hand. “John Doe. Friend of Bruce’s.” 

Lucius shook his hand. “I see. Well, what brings you two here?”

“Lucius.. There’s no one else that I could turn to. No one else that can come close to even helping.” Bruce began. 

The older man tilted his head. “What’s wrong?” 

“You’re familiar with the idea of parallel or alternative universes?” 

The scientist raised his eyebrows. “What happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully I can maintain a weekly schedule but I'm honestly not sure. Got a one-shot that I wanna start working on aside from this fic, so next week's chapter may be late. I also wanna make the chapters longer, closer to the lengths I was getting in the latter half of Accident.


	3. Chapter 3

“Ok, I’ve read bits and pieces of string theory, but nothing like this.”

Jeremiah glanced at the two women who had arrived at the manor. One of them had brown hair that was pulled into a bun, her name was Iman Ivesta. She didn’t talk a lot, mostly just introduced herself to Jeremiah and greeted Bruce.

The other woman was shorter, she introduced herself as Tiffany Fox. She was dark skinned and her dark hair was all parted to one side. She looked from Bruce to Jeremiah multiple times as he explained the situation to her.

“I know. It doesn’t make any sense. We don’t have any leads on who or why-”

“All that matters is that we figure out how to fix it.” Jeremiah cut in. “I’m a man of science, but I’m an engineer. I have never dealt in this kind of science. Clearly you haven’t faced any dimension-altering foes in this universe, and there are certainly none in mine. We have no source, we have no one to blame, therefore we must simply figure out a solution of our own.”

“I don’t even know what plane of existence your universe is on.” Tiffany replied. “If that even applies to this science.. There just has to be a crossover point. How did you come here?”

“I was going to bed. I fell asleep, then I woke up here.” Jeremiah replied. “It’s safe to assume that the same thing happened to John.”

“So the crossover point occurs when John and Mr. Valeska are in the same place at the same point in time?” Iman said.

“Maybe, but even then, what are the chances that we can get Jeremiah and John in the same place at the same time now?” Bruce replied. “We have no contact with them. And if it’s based on time and place, then I highly doubt that this was the first time that that scenario occurred.”

“But why would someone do it on purpose?” Iman asked. “It’s a trade-off, we’re reaching dead ends.”

Jeremiah shook his head. “I can’t believe it.. I thought I was finally done with.. with this. I thought I was finally safe. If this can target anyone- anything- we’re in trouble. Not just us, all universes that exist, they’re all in trouble if this can go on a scale larger than just switching two people.”

“You said you’re an engineer.” Tiffany said, crossing her arms. “You’ve been holding out on us?”

“I’m an architectural engineer.” Jeremiah replied. “But if there’s anything that I remember from my reading up on the space-time continuum, it’s that it is limited to certain degrees. If everything gets sucked into one universe, that’s billions and billions of organisms piling up onto each other. More and more matter all in one universe that can’t handle it. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to know what would happen.”

“We still don’t have any leads.” Bruce said. “Are we just supposed to wait around until another switch happens? That could take days, or it might be bigger, and we’ll be too late by then.”

“I don’t see how someone could cause this.” Tiffany said. “Everything.. That’s all theories. Scientists haven’t even come close to figuring out anything like it. There’s no way that someone could build a machine that could create a rift for the switches to happen. That’s not even possible. It’s not brought on by someone, but by something.”

“Just think of The Agency.” Bruce said. “It might not be them, but it might be a group like them.”

“They developed weapons, but there’s nothing that says that another government organization isn’t causing the problem.” Iman said. “Or possibly someone in Gotham who hasn’t faced you, yet.”

“Or the issue could also be in my universe.” Jeremiah replied, shaking his head. “Bruce and Ecco.. they’re qualified to fight physical threats, and Bruce survived many attempts on his life.. but this…”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” Tiffany asked, raising her eyebrows. “‘Many attempts on his life’?”

“A lot of different groups have tried to kill him.” Jeremiah answered matter-of-factly, though there really was nothing matter-of-fact about it. “The Court of Owls, the Order of St. Dumas, my brother, Ra’s al Ghul.. well, he didn’t try to kill Bruce, not physically, anyway.”

“What? What names did you even just list off?” Tiffany said, gesturing towards Jeremiah in a way that told him she wasn’t pleased. “Bruce, is this guy even for real? What if he’s the problem?”

Jeremiah stepped towards her, clenching one of his fists. “Do you really think, if I were here to cause problems, that I would purposefully seek out the help of the person most likely to stop me? Do you think I would’ve waited around for him to call for more help? Do you think I’d be here now?”

“How do we know you’re not lying? It seems pretty convenient that you’d just drop out of nowhere while John goes missing!” Tiffany shot back.

“You ask about me, but who are you?”

Bruce sighed, stepping over to them. “Guys, are you seriously going to argue about-”

“Shut up, Bruce!” Tiffany glared at him, and he crossed his arms.

“Wow. Frankly, I’m offended and a little hurt.”

“Don’t you talk to him like that!” Jeremiah snapped. He stepped back, rolling his eyes. “God, Lucius would be having a fit if he saw his own flesh and blood talking like that.”

Tiffany froze. “W..what are you talking about?”

“Lucius in my universe. I can assume he’s a version of a family member of yours if he isn’t the exact equivalent of you.” Jeremiah replied. “He actually, you know, treats Bruce with respect.”

Tiffany was silent for another moment. Her arms were crossed and she tapped her fingers of one hand against the opposite arm. “..Dad would kill me if he saw me acting like this.”

“Lucius is your father?”

“He was. Yeah.”

Jeremiah dropped his shoulders. “I’m just.. I’m just asking for some trust here. Some.. anything.”

“I think it’s safe to say that we’re all under very high amounts of stress right now.” Iman said suddenly. “But we can’t lose our heads. We can’t fight among ourselves.”

“I escalated it, it’s my fault.” Jeremiah shook his head. “I’m.. right now I’m scared as hell. I’m in another universe. I don’t.. I don’t belong here. I have things I have to do back home, people that I care about. I’m sorry.”

Tiffany shook her head. “No, no, it’s my fault. I was caught up in the moment. I shouldn’t have snapped like that. I’m sorry.” She looked over at Bruce. “Sorry I told you to shut up, Bruce.”

Bruce gave a small shrug, leaning against the wall. “I accept. ..I’m sure it won’t be the last time, anyway.”

“Fighting aside, I think that our only option is waiting.” Iman said. “There is a risk that a greater rift, or point, or whatever it is, will be formed, but there’s nothing that we can do. We don’t have this tech, we don’t even know what’s going on. We have to wait. Let’s try not to kill each other in the meantime. Keep level heads.”

“I need to think.” Jeremiah said softly. He moved to the chair he’d been sitting in earlier, and he closed his eyes.

“Tiffany, let's go down to the cave. Read up on anything that we find.” Iman said, putting a hand on Tiffany’s shoulder. Bruce gave them a small nod, and remained leaning against the wall.

Did time even work the same way in this dimension? Jeremiah had only been away for a couple hours, but now he was wondering if he’d been really missing for days, weeks even. And if a group or organization was somehow causing this, did they do it on purpose?

Jeremiah blinked. No, not another secret Wayne Enterprises project. Did that mean that the Court wasn’t fully destroyed? Had shadow members been lurking for a handful of years, waiting to strike revenge on Bruce? Did they figure out that he was Gotham’s vigilante? Would they try to kill him again-?

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts. His eyes snapped open and he looked up, hearing something from outside the room that he and Bruce were in. Bruce heard it too, and he glanced over at Jeremiah, then back at the ajar door.

There was muffled voices, then soft echoes of voices as their sources came closer. They were moving from a back hallway to the large foyer. Then, Jeremiah heard something distinct, and he looked back over to Bruce as they said the same thing together:

“I know that voice.”

***

“I don’t see how that’s possible. Alternate realities and universes.. It’s all theories.” Lucius said, glancing between the two men.

“I don’t have an explanation either, but it’s the only thing that comes even close to making sense.” Bruce replied.

“All I know is that I’m not supposed to be here!” John said, crossing his arms. “This isn’t where I’m from- this isn’t my Gotham.”

Lucius glanced from his desk up to Bruce. “And you came to me because..”

“How will the police help us with this?” Bruce asked. He stepped forward, taking a deep breath. “Lucius, you’re the smartest person I know, the only scientist that I can trust right now. We need all of the help that we can get.”

“You’re sure the issue isn’t in your universe?” Lucius asked, looking over to John.

“I don’t see how it could be. Like I said, Bats hasn’t face a foe that can cause dimensions to be torn apart, or whatever’s going on.” John replied, rubbing his arm. “It can’t be on my side.”

“Maybe not a foe, I don’t see how changing dimensions can help cause chaos in Gotham, but someone who’s doing it on accident.” Lucius answered. “If the switch was accidental, then the science hasn’t been fully harnessed yet. If this was their first trial or attempt at using the technology, then they will run more tests.”

“That sounds really bad.” John said, raising his eyebrows. He glanced around the room, and finally realized they were in the morgue.

“They also might run more powerful tests.” Bruce said softly. “Which means larger things being swapped.”

“It also may be entirely random that Jeremiah and John were the ones who crossed over.” Lucius said. “Which means that we- that you- are still left with nothing to go off of.”

“Agh, I just wanna get back home! Why can’t this be simple?” John cried out, throwing up his hands. “I have a city to save, a boyfriend to love! I had plans for today! I was gonna tidy up a bit, organize the cave, but noooooo I had to be sucked into another dimension with minimal chances of returning home!”

Lucius raised his hand out to John, trying to calm him down. “John, I know you’re stressed-”

“I’m freaking out!” John exclaimed, looking between the two men. “For my whole life I’ve been trying to figure out who I am, my place in the world, what I’m supposed to be! And now some random inter-dimensional rift has opened and conveniently I’m one of the lucky ones chosen to get sucked through! I’ve finally found my purpose, why I’m alive. I have a partner, I have a family, I have money, I have real food back home, and I’m not letting some stupid peculiarity take that away from me!”

John looked directly at Bruce, who blinked at him. “Bruce, if you’re anything like my Bruce, then you know exactly where I’m coming from.” John continued. “I can tell that you love Jeremiah very much. He’s the guy you felt a connection with from the moment that you met. He’s the friend that doesn’t judge you for being weird. He’s the datemate who you knew you were meant to be with for the rest of your life. You’re internalizing it, but I know you’re scared, too. Right now, I’m utterly terrified, and not in a good way. Lucius, come on, there has to be something that we can do!”

The room fell silent as John caught his breath. He coughed into his arm. “..I’m.. I ramble when I’m nervous.” He mumbled softly.

“Wayne Enterprises.. It’s your best bet.” Lucius answered after a moment.

 

Bruce looked over at him. “Lucius, you don’t seriously think..”

“That it’s the Court or a secret project? I seriously hope not, but where else can you look for information?” Lucius asked. “We can’t just sit around and theorize- it’s getting us nowhere.”

“John, let’s go.” Bruce said. “I can hack into the database at Wayne Enterprises.” John nodded, moving with Bruce to leave.

Lucius watched the two of them. “Good luck, Bruce.”

The pair set off, down the hall. “How long of a drive is it?” John asked.

“It’s not too far, I’m sure it’s where your version of it is.” Bruce began. “We can be there in less than five minutes, and in my office in less than ten. No one will-”

“Bruce?”

They’d made it halfway through the station when Bruce’s voice was called out. The two men stopped, and John turned around. Bruce did the same, freezing when he saw the man who’d called his name.

“Oh no.” He said softly. John tilted his head as the man came forward. He was a cop, clean shaven, his badge hidden under his suit jacket. He approached the two men, and John suddenly knew exactly who he was.

“Bruce, hey, is there something I can do for you?” Captain Gordon asked, gesturing to Bruce.

“Jim, I was just stopping by to talk to Lucius about something.” Bruce replied, giving the captain a small nod.

“‘Stopping by’? You drove all the way into the city to ‘stop by’ to talk to Lucius?” Jim furrowed his brows, glancing from Bruce to John.

“I was already out.” Bruce said. “Just showing my friend John around the city. He’s visiting for a couple days.”

“Oh, yeah? You guys friends from school?” Jim asked.

“We are, actually!” John piped up. “I’ve been meaning to visit Bruce for a bit, and since the city calmed down I’ve been planning my trip out here.”

“Where are you from?”

“Oh, New York! Moved from one city to the next, you know how it is.” John replied.

Jim modded, but John knew something was off. “Right. Well, I hate to say it, but things might be stirring up again. We’ve got a vigilante who’s surfaced in the past few months, and there’s finally some concrete sightings in the past week or two.” Jim replied, glancing over at a few of the officers working at their desks.

“You don’t like Batman?”

“He thinks he’s above the law. Doesn’t answer to anyone.”

“Well. It’s better to stand up and protect those who can’t help themselves rather than do nothing in..” John began sharply, but he trailed off and cleared his throat. “Bruce and I have an important meeting to attend to. If that’ll be all, Captain?”

Jim let out a breath. “..Good to see you, Bruce.” He replied.

“Nice to see you, Jim.” Bruce said, nodding and turning with John to leave.

They were soon out of the station, walking across the street to Bruce’s car.

“What’s Jim like in your universe?” Bruce asked.

“He’s not a jerk, that’s what!” John answered. “He actually likes Batman! And he’s warming up to Joker..”

“Did he always like Batman?”

“..No. But your version of Gotham seems to be even more chaotic than mine. For the first couple years Bruce was just stopping robberies, heists. My Gotham was never like yours. Yours has needed Batman for years, and Jim won’t accept him now.”

They came to Bruce’s car and Bruce was soon pulling out of the space, turning down a street to join the Gotham traffic. Bruce spoke after a few moments of silence.

“Jim loves Gotham. He doesn’t want Batman to be a vigilante that turns on the people, and he’s worked so hard to try to maintain the law and hold people accountable. You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about telling him that it’s me. Almost every time I see him when I’m in the mask.. But I just leave. That’s why sightings of me have been sparse. I don’t stay around to talk.”

“Bruce didn’t really either, until Jim started to like him.” John replied. “You just have to win him over. Save the city for real, get the people to like you. It starts with the people, those who are hurt by crime the most.”

“Easier said than done.”

“It is, but if you keep it up, the time will come. People will think of you as a hero.” John said, looking out the window as they passed building after building.

Wayne Tower came into view, and John gasped softly. “It’s exactly where it is in my version of Gotham!” He grinned.

Bruce parked the car in a space and John quickly hopped out. “Layout’s probably the same, too. Come on.”

John looked around wildly as they came into the lobby of the large building. Everything was so similar, he could imagine running into that room on the 18th floor to visit Iman, or hugging Bruce’s arm as they rode up to his office in the elevator together.

Bruce pressed the button to call the elevator, and John hummed beside him. “Do you have someone on staff here with the last name Zellerbach? Perhaps on the Board of Directors?”

They stepped into the elevator together, and Bruce pushed the button for his floor. “Zellerbach? Not on the Board, no.”

The elevator made a few pickups along the way, with people nodding to Bruce in respectful greetings. John wasn’t surprised that a few people gave him what he’d dubbed ‘the look’. It reached the 24th floor and Bruce motioned for John that it was their stop.

John followed him down the hall a short ways to a set of double doors. Bruce pulled one open, nodding for John to go first.

“Your office is a lot like Bruce’s!” John grinned as he looked around. There were objects on the desk near the windows that caught his eye. He jogged over to them and picked one up. “Oh, these are prototypes?”

“Jeremiah has a lab down the hall. Everything we work on is in there.” Bruce replied, sitting down at his desk. “I have a few things in here that other CEOs can look at if they’re looking to invent in new tech.”

John nodded, leaning against the desk as Bruce pulled something out from one of the drawers. “Alright, what’s that? Wait, it’s a hack thingy!”

“A.. yeah. It’s tech that Lucius and Jeremiah worked on. I’m really only supposed to use it in the field, but..” Bruce logged into his computer and began to pull up the Wayne Enterprises database. He plugged in the small device, and after typing a command in he sat back in his chair.

 

“Oh, trust me. Bruce does plenty of Batman things while he’s being Bruce. There’s just certain things that Bruce is better for than Batman.” John replied.

“It’s working through all files on all levels. All we can do is wait for it to reach 100% and look at what it uncovered.”

John looked around the office before looking back at Bruce. “So.. what’s the Court?”

Bruce looked over at him. “The Court of Owls was a shadow organization that were the real controllers of Gotham for a long time.” He explained. “They were heavily tied to Wayne Enterprises. I.. they were defeated a couple of years ago. They conducted many illegal and immoral operations, including genetic experimentation and resurrecting people from the dead.”

John’s eyebrows shot up. “Resurrection? Wow, now that’s crazy!”

“The doctor who was the head scientist fled Gotham about a year ago. Hugo Strange.. no one’s seen him.” Bruce said. “One day he just.. disappeared. My father hated the projects, knew they were wrong, tried to shut down as many as he could.”

“And he was killed for it.” John sighed. “Your folks were killed because they tried to stop bad people. Bruce’s folks were killed because his dad was.. I try to tell myself that his dad did it for him and his mom, to make sure that Bruce had a future, that he’d be alright..”

“He may have originally had good intentions, but his actions were wrong.” Bruce said.

John looked out the window, gazing at a random building. “It was actually a trio. His dad was the doctor with money who could diagnose people as criminally insane. Falcone was the mob boss with muscle and the police in his pockets. Mayor Hill was the politician who made sure it all went under the radar.” John shook his head. “Bruce is nothing like his father.”

Bruce lowered his gaze. “That’s.. Wow.” He suddenly looked back up at John. “..Wait, did you just say Falcone-ee?”

“Yeah. That’s how it’s pronounced.”

 

“It’s pronounced Fal-cown.” Bruce said, tilting his head slightly in confusion.

 

“Oh, great. Another difference between our universes- name pronunciation.” John grumbled.

Bruce gave him a small smile at the comment, but soon an awkward silence fell between them.

“You’ve got a really nice view of the city.” John said, not taking his eyes off the other building. “Ever consider doing some cool thing and jumping off of a tall building like this one?”

“I’m sorry?” Bruce asked.

“Well, catching yourself, obviously, but feeling the rush.” John closed his eyes. “The wind hitting your cheeks, your cape billowing out behind you. For a moment.. Yes, you have a city to save. Yes, if anyone saw you they’d be utterly confused, but for a moment.. you’d just be able to do something cool and fun that only heroes can do!”

“Does.. Does your Bruce make it a habit of jumping off of skyscrapers for fun?”

John grinned, looking at him. “Oh, not Bruce. I do it, though! And he gets mad at me every time!”

“So… you make it a habit of jumping off of skyscrapers for fun… Why?”

“Well, no one sees me, and I catch myself before anything terrible happens!” He clapped his hands together. “It’s fun seeing the ground get closer and closer!”

“You’re.. Wow.”

The green-haired man tilted his head. “What?”

“You’re just so different from Jeremiah. He practically has a heart attack every time someone breathes in my general direction.” Bruce replied, tapping on his desk. “He’s always up late when I go on patrol, working, but I know it’s really just to see that I come home safe.”

“I make sure Bruce comes home safe by going out with him.” John said softly. “Jeremiah’s not a physical fighter, and that’s alright. Him staying up, being protective when someone looks at you the wrong way, it means that he loves you. He worries because he wants to be out there but can’t be. He worries because you’re Bruce Wayne, and that means that you’re the stupidest genius that he knows.”

Bruce stared at him, brows furrowed together. John rubbed the back of his neck. “I.. think I’m getting anxious again.” He mumbled.

There was a soft beep, and Bruce looked back at his monitor. “Oh, the files are done.”

John stood up, looking at the screen. “Alright, pull up everything!”

Bruce pressed a few things on his keyboard. “Let’s see what-”

The two men stared at window where folders should have been. The only problem was, there were no folders.

“There’s.. Nothing here.” Bruce said softly.

“What? That can’t be…” John trailed off, eyes widening. “Oh.. oh _no_.. This.. there’s nothing? No hidden files?”

“Usually there’s at least one or two that someone forgot to erase. Technology is great for this sort of thing until someone figures out what you’re doing and can access all your files if they’re smart enough.” Bruce replied. “If the problem originated here.. Then the group has already covered their tracks.”

“So there’s nothing we can do..?” John said softly.

“There’s nothing that can help us here.” Bruce corrected him. “Come on, let’s get back to Lucius.” He pulled the device out of his computer and stuffed it into his pocket. John began to walk to the doors, when suddenly he heard what sounded like wind.

“Um, Bruce?”

“I hear it, too.” Bruce answered, instinctively looking around the office. John rubbed his temple as the sound grew louder.

“What is that?!” He cried out, his voice getting muffled by what was now starting to sound like a roar. He backed up, bumping into Bruce, who was facing the window, looking outside. The two men were back to back, and John put his guard up, ready for a fight.

Bruce shouted something back, but now the noise was too loud for John to hear him. He instinctively covered his ears and closed his eyes, his head starting to hurt from what he could only describe as pressure.

Then, he was _falling_.

John let out a yell as he fell. He didn’t know how he fell, he’d been standing on the floor of Bruce’s office. Did the building collapse? Had a new villain come in and destroyed it? Was he falling to his death? _Would Batsy the Catsy miss him?!_

Suddenly, all the pressure stopped, and John snapped his eyes open, having only a split second to reorient himself as he landed on his shoulder and back. He expected a snap, or a crack, or to even feel the bone shatter, but the impact only winded him slightly. He blinked and let out a cough, then slowly sat up.

He looked around, and a wave of relief hit him as he saw that Bruce was next to him, staring up at the ceiling. John looked around, quickly concluding that they were in a hallway. Bruce sat up. “The hell was that?”

“I have no idea… And oh, don’t tell me.. now we’re _both in another_ -!” John began, but he trailed off, looking down the hall again. “Wait.. I know this hallway..”

“I don’t recognize this place. You do?” Bruce asked, rubbing his head. John stood up slowly, his brain coming back online.

“This.. wait, is it..?” John stepped towards the nearest door, peeking inside.

Bruce quickly stood as well. “John what are you doing? There could be someone in that room! This is a stranger’s house, we need to leave!”

No, this wasn’t the house of a stranger. John knew exactly where he was. “It’s.. oh, gosh, Bruce! We’re back in _my_ dimension!” John exclaimed. He hurried back over to Bruce, who was staring at him.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” He said flatly.

“I’m not, this is Wayne Manor!” John grabbed Bruce’s wrist. “Come on, we gotta find Jeremiah and Bruce!”

Bruce looked down at his hand. “Are you sure this is-?”

“Yes! Look, that’s the kitchen, there’s the servants’ quarters down that hall, that was the library, this is my home!” John pointed to each in turn. This was home- he was home!

“I don’t know, this might just be another universe that looks a lot like yours.” Bruce sighed softly, letting John drag him into the foyer.

“It’s not, I know it’s not!” John insisted. “Look, upstairs might be our best bet, let’s hurry up and-”

“John?”

The pair stopped, and John turned to where the voice came from. “Bruce?!”

There he was, standing in the doorway that led to one of the many room right off of the foyer. John dropped Bruce’s wrist, running to his Bruce as fast as he possibly could. “BruceBruceBruceBruceBruceBruceBruce!!!”

Bruce practically caught him, preventing them both from smacking into the wall behind him. He kissed John’s cheek and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him close, and John squeezed him tightly. This was where he belonged. This was his home.

“Oh my god.. Where the hell have you been? Are you ok?” Bruce asked, pulling away from the embrace to look at him.

John blinked, then pulling away from Bruce all the way, he held out his arms, gesturing to the other Bruce. “Bruce, meet Bruce!” John grinned.

After a moment of nothing happening, a small smile crossed the face of John’s Bruce. John glanced at the other Bruce, then realized he was looking at the man who was still standing in the doorway, a little behind his Bruce.

He stepped out of the doorway, heading right for Bruce, and John quickly stepped aside, realizing who this man was. He stopped right in front of Bruce, suddenly bringing up one of his hands to cup his face.

“Bruce..” Jeremiah practically whispered, like he couldn’t believe that Bruce was standing in front of him.

The other man responded by pressing his lips against Jeremiah’s, placing one of his hands over the one cupping his face.

John’s heart ached, and he looked back over at his Bruce, mouthing at him. _They’re so cute!_

Bruce glanced from John, to them, back to John, and mouthed something back.

_We’re cuter._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Batsy the Catsy is Bruce and John's cat for anyone who doesn't normally read my work.   
> I also am going to give you guys a heads-up: with school and work, my free time this week (and possibly next week’s) will likely be put towards one of the many one-shots that I have planned. Hopefully that will take a week or less to write and I’ll be able to get the next chapter for this out in two weeks, not sure yet. Sorry for this one being late! Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> So, this idea's been circling my head for a bit now. I considered making the chapter longer, but I want to make sure that people are interested first before I throw any time into this, considering I have another fic that I have on the back burner. If you're one of my Telltale Bats peeps, welcome back and Happy New Year! If you're from Gotham, welcome to the insanity I call my writing.  
> I know it's really slow, but introductions come first, and I have to lay down some canon facts for both sides of the coin! Comments and kudos appreciated of course, they help me know if I'm doing well or not. If this gets going I'll put my other fic on hold, but I'm sure I'll get it out once this one is finished!


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